Even though we didn’t have any oars, which had been washed away by the giant wave that had earlier also washed away all the passengers except one, the sea was taking us towards the island on its own in a final act of mercy. A light breeze blowing in the direction of the island was providing a much needed helping hand.
Thankfully, the sea didn’t decide to take us in a different direction, and a couple of hours later we had reached close enough to the island that we could have just jumped into the sea and swam to the island easily, but we were so weary that the three of us, including the frail cat who let his name known as Maltuk, remained on the boat and let the sea and the wind take us to the shore.
The moment we reached shore that we got out of the boat. I fell down on the soft sand and I could have almost fallen back into the land of sleep again, but Maltuk came to me and said,
“We need to take the boat away from the shore before the tide comes.”
There was logic in his words, so Gnaria, Maltuk and I set to work pulling the boat away from the shore deeper into the island. If we ever saw a ship pass by close to the island then we could use the boat to take us to the ship. The island itself was a moderately big island. There was a great hill in the centre of the island, which was mostly covered with forests. I hoped that there were not many wild creatures in the island which would want to eat us.
There were quite a few coconut trees growing on the shore. I used a couple of my air arrows to shoot down some coconuts. Then Gnaria used her Knife spell to cut open the coconuts. Maltuk seemed very impressed and amazed with us.
It was only as I put the coconut water into my mouth that I realised just how thirsty I had been. I got a few more coconuts down with my arrow spell, just to drink the water of the coconuts.
Gnaria suggested that it was best that we started a fire as soon as possible. It would help us to get warm and to also keep potential predators at bay. Thankfully the thunderstorm that had drowned the ship had not affected the island and the island was mostly dry and we could collect enough dry leaves and branches. And then we set about working on the tedious process of getting a fire going, hitting stone on stone. It took us more than an hour, but finally the fire was burning bright, warming our souls that had seen too much that day. I still remembered all the passengers of the life boat ready to throw the other passengers into the sea just to save themselves. Most people thought of themselves as good people, but when extreme times came they succumbed to them and acquired characters that they would have themselves been horrified of in other times.
The three of us sat around the fire and bathed ourselves in the warmth of the fire, each lost in their own thoughts. We had been extremely lucky to get to the island. The big wave that had washed away the other passengers of the life boat had been a boom, even though that perspective was gruesome.
All three of us were tired and we lay down next to the fire. After a while I entered the blissful world of sleep. I dreamt of water all around me. I dreamt of Gnaria struggling to breathe under water. I dreamt of the captain and the crew of the ship. It wasn’t the best of dreams for sure and when I heard a sound, I woke up with a start.
It was Maltuk, pushing himself up. The fire had died but was still smoking.
“Need to take a piss,” Maltuk said to me with a drowsy face.
He walked off towards the woods. A minute passed, then five minutes and then there was a great cry exactly from the part of the woods where Maltuk had gone to urinate. I felt like someone had hit my heart with a hammer for the cry had been the most blood curling one that I had ever heard in my life. Even Gnaria who had been asleep woke up with a start and looked around her.
“What?” she said, looking at me with wide fearful eyes apparently still struggling to make the distinction of whether she was still in a dream or in reality. “What happened?”
I found myself incapable of answering her and I got to my feet. I was thoroughly shaken. That cry had belonged to Maltuk. Still I hoped against hope that he would return, but as the minutes passed it became evident that some great calamity had befallen him and he wasn’t going to come back. That was bad, for Maltuk had been more or less a good person to us in the few hours that we had known him.
I looked down at Gnaria, my horror reflecting in her eyes.
“Maltuk went to the woods,” I said, “and then there was a cry.”
“So I didn’t dream it?” Gnaria asked.
I shook my head.
“Then we should go and see if he’s okay,” Gnaria said. It was the most sensible thing, yet I felt a strange reluctance within me. I was scared. But I still nodded. Gnaria and I both knew a few spells and we had enough mana to use them. We had together taken down an entire army of ant people in the past, so we did have some chance against whoever or whatever had attacked Maltuk.
We were able to relight the fire and make a torch out of a branch and then Gnaria and I approached the spot in the woods to which Maltuk had gone.
I saw urine on a tree and I knew it was where Maltuk had pissed. And then what I saw a little distance away from it made my stomach turn to ice.
A trail of blood.
A trail of blood that could only have been made my dragging a heavily bleeding corpse. The trail of blood disappeared into the depths of the forest. A fear of the unknown sank into me, and even Gnaria did not take another step further.
“Sh… should we go further?” Gnaria asked me in a tiny, fear-stricken voice.
“Maltuk is dead,” I said. Nobody could have possibly survived after losing so much blood. Plus there weren’t any signs along the trail to show that the body being dragged had shown any struggles. “We don’t know what is in the forest. I-I think it would be better if we go into the forest tomorrow when there is daylight.”
I felt odd saying those words. Ever since I had left the castle and embarked on the quest of the goat king I had surprised myself by taking decisions to go into the unknown with little fear. But this time, something was different.
Gnaria agreed with me. She might have not agreed to my cowardice had she had a glass of rum. But in the remote island that we were in I doubted there was any rum.
Chapter 19
Gnaria and I went back to the fire and sat down near it. I could still see the trail of blood in my mind’s eye and it was all I thought about for the next few hours of the night. After what had happened sleep was out of question. Gnaria and I sat huddled close to each other, the stars above twinkling down on us.
I felt like ominous forces were at play in the island. The waves lapping against the shore somehow added to the eeriness of the situation. I looked at the vast expanse of water and I realised that only a miracle could get us out of the island for it was very unlikely that a ship would sail close to the island.
Finally the sun rose and it brought fresh courage to me and Gnaria. We decided that it was time that we investigate the murder of Maltuk. We went to the place in the woods from where the blood trail started. The blood had mostly dried by now. The morning air was fresh but there was the scent of blood in the air and I had to resist feeling sick as Gnaria and I made our progress along the trail of the blood, expecting an attack any time from whoever or whatever had killed Maltuk. The trail led us to the higher lands of the island and soon we were climbing the only hill in the island.
And then Gnaria suddenly pointed at a fire higher up. Seeing the creatures around the fire my heart skipped a beat.
The beings were a strange cross between cats and humans. These beings were a stranger mix than even the dogmen. Their head bore characteristics of both humans and cats. They had sharp teeth and noses that were very much like cats while their ears were like those of humans. The rest of their bodies was covered in fur but retained the human shape. They did not have any tail.
I reckoned it would be appropriate to call these beings the ‘Catmen’. But what did they do with Maltuk’s body? Did they eat him? But wouldn’t it be on the verge of cannibalism? Maltuk after all was a cat and he had many si
milarities with the catmen. But beings who could murder someone in such cold blood could well be expected to have eaten Maltuk.
An anger took over me suddenly. I wanted to destroy all the catmen. There were at least five of them around the fire. I took a step forward, my insides thirsting for revenge. Just then there was a sound behind us, followed by a shout in a tongue that was foreign to me.
Gnaria and I wheeled around, and the next moment we found ourselves under a net. At least three catmen were upon us the very next second. While two of them subdued Gnaria and me with their powerful hands, the third one raised a mace that he had been carrying. The mace was already stained in blood and I knew that there was a high chance that this mace was the one which had been used to kill Maltuk. I had never felt so helpless in my life. The catmen were ten times stronger than the ant people against whom Gnaria and I had fought in the forest of Ultur.
One catman was pinning my paws to the ground such that I couldn’t move them enough to shoot a properly aimed air arrow or use the rope spell. In desperation I activated the Long Hands spell. My paw shot up towards the mace fast falling not towards me but towards Gnaria whom the catmen wanted to kill. The mace impacted my paw and the very moment I knew that my paw was fractured. As the Long Hands spell deactivated my paw shrunk back to its original size. But the mace had been deflected and it hit the ground beside Gnaria.
Despite my fractured paw, which was bursting with pain, I felt victorious at having saved Gnaria.
The victory was short lived though as the catman once again lifted his mace to the air, his face this time contorted in anger. But before he could strike Gnaria, a strange thing happened.
The catman suddenly threw one of his legs backwards. The result was that he slipped and fell face first onto the ground, the mace falling on his own hand. As the catman cried out in pain, I was overcome by confusion. But I pushed the confusion aside. The two catmen who were holding me and Gnaria were momentarily distracted and we used this to our advantage. Gnaria already had her knife spell on but she hadn’t been able to move her hands in any offensive way till now. But now she was able to wriggle her hands free from the grasps of the distracted catman holding her and she made a fine cut on the neck of the catman.
The catman fell sideways, holding his throat that was spilling blood by the gallons.
I meanwhile bit the catman as hard as I could on the forearm. My paw had gone numb by now. The catman withdrew his arms from me immediately. Gnaria was already on her feet by this time and she was quick to plunge her knife of a hand into the heart of the catman. The catman died immediately.
The catman with the mace was getting up. Gnaria was about to kill him off with her knives but I stopped her. I wanted to take my revenge on him for breaking my paw. There was a fat stone lying nearby. I quickly activated the Human Hands spell on my other paw which was still okay. With much effort I lifted the stone and I hit the catman on the head as he was getting up. The catman fell backwards again. I picked up the fallen stone and hit him repeated times until he was dead.
And then the weakness hit me all at once. I fell onto my knees. My paw had been numb till now and the pain suddenly returned to it and it throbbed like it was going to be detached from my arm. There were shouts from atop the hill and I somehow turned to see that the catmen who had been around the fire had seen us kill their friends. They were coming down the hill fast, swinging maces and swords.
And just then they stopped. Their eyes were fixed at something behind me and Gnaria, a mixed expression of great fear and anger on their faces. Then they began to flee up the hill. After a while it was impossible to distinguish the catmen from the vegetation.
Chapter 20
“Why did they run away?” Gnaria asked. It had been strange and I still recalled how the catman with the mace who was now dead had earlier swung his leg backwards as though he had no control over his leg. There was nothing and nobody in the vicinity who could have scared away the catmen… nothing or nobody that we saw at least.
“Something scared them off,” I said, looking warily about the spot. “But what could have?”
“Me,” a voice suddenly said to my right. A female voice. Except there was nobody to my right. Fear gripped my heart such that for a while I forgot my throbbing paw.
“Who are you?” I managed to say.
“Normally I do not reveal myself to people who have not been in this island for long, for I like to check out their true character,” the voice said. “But I think I can reveal myself to you since I know for certain that you are enemies of the catmen.”
The outline of a human female formed in the air. An outline of light. The light dimmed even as the outline turned to an actual human female. She wore what I thought were rather royal clothes. She even had a cloak and there were gold chains with lockets of sparkling gemstones around her neck.
“I am Julia, the princess of this island,” the lady said.
“Were you the one who pulled the catman’s leg earlier when he was going to attack us?” I asked.
“It was indeed me,” Julia replied. “These filthy beings,” Julia said pointing at the dead half cats half humans, “are the Catmen. They are my enemies. A long time ago they came to my island. I allowed them to live for a while, but then they showed their true faces.
“Unfortunately by then I had told them enough things about the island that I had unwittingly given them power over this island. It took me a while to know that the catmen were originally borne out of a curse. The males of their race are sterile so they capture male cats that can breed with their females. For decades I have been fighting with them all on my own. Alas, the entire fault is mine. Over the years hundreds of cats have lost their lives to slavery so that the race of the filthy catmen could be continued. The catmen attack ships and catch the passengers. They kill the female cats and some of the weaker males, while they keep some selected males and enslave them and use them to breed with their own females.”
Well, at least I had got the name of the half cat, half human brutes right.
“Aren’t there other humans living in this island with you?” Gnaria asked Julia to which Julia let out a laugh.
“I am no human,” she said, “I am the last of an ancient race called the Droods. We are shape shifters who can acquire two forms. The form of a human as I now am, and the form of the wind, which I was a few moments back. My ancestors had been living on this island for long, but we only marry once and we only produce a single offspring. The man I married… well things have not gone well and I am the last of the Droods as I am forbidden to marry a second time, though if you ask me I wouldn’t marry even if it wasn’t forbidden. A broken heart is seldom mended.”
Julia said these words looking fixedly, as if she was visiting old times inside her mind. And then she suddenly snapped out.
“You must be in a lot of pain,” she said to me as she came and grasped my paw. Her grasp was a soft one but it still hurt like hell. “Let me get you an herb and some magic that can heal you quickly.”
Julia led me and Gnaria about the foot of the hill searching for the healing herb. When she found it she pulled it out of the ground and squeezed the juice out of it onto my paw all the while mumbling an incantation under her breath. By the time she was done with the incantation, my paw had totally healed. I could move my paw as though nothing had ever happened to it and all the pain was gone as well. The herb together with Julia’s incantation was as good as, if not better, than the health vials back in my father’s castle.
“Thank you,” I said to Julia and I absolutely meant it. Julia looked at me and then she shook her head.
“If you really want to thank me, you must help me,” she said, her eyes serious.
“Help you?” I said, “Absolutely.”
“Occasionally I have been able to save a cat breeder from the grasps of the catmen,” Julia said, “while some of them actually knew spells, most only knew only the most basic of spells which were of little use to me. Today however I sa
w that the two of you know spells that can actually be used against the catmen. Had the catmen not taken you by surprise and pinned you down, you could have easily defeated them without the need of any help from me. I want you to help me do something that would forever get this island rid of the catmen and also free all their cat slaves. But before I tell you what I want you to do, you must come along with me, for I want to show you something… something that you would refuse to accept if I just tell about it to you.”
Gnaria and I exchanged looks at this. Sure, we were indebted to Julia for what she had done to save us from the catmen, all the same I hoped that whatever she wanted us to do was not something beyond us. I had come seeking the treasure of the goat king, apparently life had other plans for me and wanted me to pursue other quests and had hence brought me to this island.
Princess Julia led us to the shore of the island where we had first landed yesterday. And then Julia just kept marching towards the sea, while Gnaria and I followed hesitantly in her wake. After a point the tide was washing our feet, even then Julia kept marching on, as though she thought we could walk on the surface of the sea. Finally, I decided it was time to ask her.
I stopped. Gnaria did the same.
“Where are you leading us to?” I asked Julia, who was oblivious to the fact that Gnaria and I had stopped following her. She turned back.
“The sea of course,” Julia answered, a curious smile hanging onto the corners of her lips. I couldn’t help but frown.
“I am not getting you,” I said.
“I want to take you to the sea bed,” Julia said.
“The sea bed?” Gnaria blurted, obviously puzzled as I myself was. Neither Gnaria nor I were good swimmers. Even a person blessed with the best swimming skills would probably have a hard time going to the sea bed.
The Goat King's Wives Online Page 9